System and method for assessing quality of transit networks at specified locations

ABSTRACT

A system and method is disclosed for generating and providing assessments of transit network characteristics for specified locations. The system receives a specified location, generates an assessment of the received location, and provides a generated visual representation of the received location to a client system. Determining a location assessment may be based on transit network information related to the distance between a specified location and the nearest point of access/egress on transit network routes that are accessible from the specified location, the frequency at which the transit network routes stop at the point of access/egress on the transit network routes that are accessible from the indicated location, or the transportation mode used for at least one of the transit network routes that are accessible from the specified location. The initial location assessment may be updated periodically, in response to changes in system status, or on demand by user request.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/587,849, entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ASSESSING QUALITY OF TRANSITNETWORKS AT SPECIFIED LOCATIONS, and filed Aug. 16, 2012, which claimsthe benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/539,944,entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR THE CALCULATION AND USE OF COMMUTE TIMESIN SEARCH AND OTHER APPLICATIONS” and filed Sep. 27, 2011, and U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 61/524,260, entitled “SYSTEM ANDMETHOD FOR ASSESSING QUALITY OF PUBLIC TRANSIT” and filed Aug. 16, 2011,each of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

For many people who rely on public transit to meet day-to-daytransportation needs, the availability of public transit in particularareas—such as at home or at work—is a particular concern. Although atransit rider may use certain services to search for public transitroutes between two specific locations, current services do not enable auser to easily assess the overall quality of public transit in aparticular area. For example, if a user is interested in assessing thequality of public transit at an apartment that the user might considerleasing, the user may be forced to manually search for transportationroutes between that apartment and several different locations, such asthe user's work office, dentist's office, or favorite restaurant. Eventhen, the user may gain some appreciation for routes available to thosespecific searched destinations but would have very little insight intothe quality of public transit from the apartment to myriad otherdestinations to which the user could expect to travel at future times.Moreover, if the user is considering multiple apartments located indifferent areas, the labor involved with the manual task of searchingspecific routes increases substantially. Current services are furtherinefficient and undesirable because they fail to allow the user toeasily compare and contrast the quality of public transit among themultiple potential apartments. A need therefore exists for morecomprehensive systems that can evaluate and present commute informationfor multiple options in an expedient manner.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The patent or application file contains at least one drawing executed incolor. Copies of this patent or patent application publication withcolor drawings will be provided by the Office upon request and paymentof the necessary fee.

FIG. 1 is a screen display of an example visual representation of alocation assessment related to a transit network.

FIG. 2 is a diagram of functional modules in a representative embodimentof a Location Assessment Provider System.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of a process for providing an example locationassessment related to a transit network using a Location AssessmentProvider System.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of a process for providing an example locationassessment related to a transit network within a transit shed.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A system and method is disclosed which generates and providesassessments of specified locations based on the availability of transitnetwork service at those locations (hereinafter, the “LocationAssessment Provider System (LAPS)”). The assessment takes into accountmultiple factors, including the distance from the specified location toa point of access on one or more available transit network routes, thefrequency of the transit network routes, the type of transit networkroutes, and additional factors that may include user preferences. Forexample, a user may indicate which transit network modes are preferredas well as which transit modes are to be avoided or used only as a lastresort. As another example, a user may indicate one or more times of dayon which the assessment should be based, thereby allowing the user toreceive an assessment that takes into account the availability of atransit network in the morning hours (e.g., while on the way to schoolat 7:40 a.m.) versus the evening hours (e.g., on the way back home fromschool at 4:30 p.m.). A person of ordinary skill in the art willappreciate that the user may customize the location assessment based onadditional user preferences, including for example the availability of atransit network to one or more particular destinations to which the usertravels frequently, the length of the commute time, or the cost.

The location assessment provided herein is reliable and readily adaptsto changes in the transit network. In a transit network system, frequentchanges in system status may occur as a result of multiple factors thataffect transit routes. For example, a transit authority may add newservice routes or increase the frequency of existing routes to meetincreases in rider demand. Similarly, a transit authority may retireexisting routes or reduce the frequency of certain routes that are notin high demand. In addition, the status of a transit network system maychange unexpectedly due to a variety of factors, including maintenanceoutages that may result in transit vehicles being taken out of service,upgrades to transit system infrastructure such as bus tunnels or railtracks, or particularly high ridership that introduces time delays dueto the volume of passengers entering and exiting transit vehicles. Insuch situations, the method of system provided herein enable thelocation assessments to dynamically reflect the changes through updatesthat occur periodically, in response to changes in system status, or ondemand by user request.

Embodiments described herein provide an enhanced computer- andnetwork-based method and system for generating and providing locationassessments related to transit networks. Transit networks may includetraditional mass transportation that is typically provided by local andregional governments, such as city buses, trains, and ferry routes.However, transit networks as disclosed herein may encompass variousother transportation systems that carry multiple passengers on a regularor semi-regular schedule. For example, transit networks may includeprivately owned bus lines and airlines, as well as carpools. In general,transit networks are transportation networks having defined routes anddefined points of entrance or exit from the transit network.

The LAPS generates and provides assessments of specified locations basedon the availability of transit network service. In determining theassessment, the LAPS may take into account multiple factors, includingthe distance from the specified location to a point of access on one ormore available transit network routes that are accessible from thespecified location, the frequency of the transit network routes (e.g.,how frequently a bus or train is scheduled to stop at a nearby station),the type of transit network route (e.g., bus, train, light rail, ferry,etc.), as well as other factors that may include user preferences (e.g.,availability of transit on a certain day or time of day; amount of timeto travel from source to destination via transit network; cost). A LAPSmay be used on its own to generate and provide location assessmentsrelated to transit networks, or may be embedded within or used byanother code module or application to provide location assessmentfunctionality. For example, in some embodiments, the LAPS provides atransit assessment called a “Transit Score,” which provides a visualindication of the availability of a transit network at a specifiedlocation. This Transit Score, as described further below, may beprovided as a network accessible application, such as a Web pagespecified by a Uniform Resource Identifier (“URI”) and displayable via aWeb browser, or, may be provided via a server or as a Web service andintegrated into another, perhaps third party, application.

As mentioned, a location assessment is generated relative to a specifiedlocation. A location used to serve as a basis for generating a locationassessment may be specified by any suitable means, including explicitlyspecified, for example, using identifying information such as a physicaladdress, a latitude/longitude specification, or an indication on a map.A location may also be implicitly specified, for example, by deducing anearest building to a stop on a transit route (e.g., clicking on,selecting, and/or hovering over, a point) using an interacting mappingapplication. A location may also be specified via Location Based Service(“LBS”) features of an interactive mapping application or mobile device.For example, LBS functionality installed on a mobile phone may sense thephysical location of the mobile phone and provide the sensed location tothe LAPS as the specified location. Other means of specifying locationsrelative to some other point or area may also be incorporated into aLAPS, such as by allowing users to drag icons, draw areas, specifycities or particular neighborhoods, or perform other operations withinan interactive mapping application.

Various embodiments of the invention are described below. The followingdescription provides specific details for a thorough understanding andan enabling description of these embodiments. One skilled in the artwill understand, however, that the invention may be practiced withoutmany of these details. In addition, some well-known structures orfunctions may not be shown or described in detail, so as to avoidunnecessarily obscuring the relevant description of the variousembodiments. The terminology used in the description presented below isintended to be interpreted in its broadest reasonable manner, eventhough it is being used in conjunction with a detailed description ofcertain specific embodiments of the invention.

In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth,such as data formats, network protocols, and code sequences, etc., inorder to provide a thorough understanding of the described techniques.The embodiments described also can be practiced without some of thespecific details described herein, or with other specific details, suchas changes with respect to the ordering of the code flow, different codeflows, etc. Thus, the scope of the techniques and/or functions describedis not limited by the particular order, selection, or decomposition ofsteps described with reference to any particular routine and/or system.

FIG. 1 is an example screen display of an example visual representationof a location assessment related to a transit network. According to theexample application illustrated by FIG. 1, a user specifies a locationas a street address via the user input control 130. In addition,although some of the described embodiments determine locationassessments with respect to a given street address, locations may bespecified in other ways. For example, locations may be specified bypartial physical addresses (e.g., street intersections, blockaddresses), latitude and longitude coordinates, neighborhood or placenames, based on one or more user inputs (e.g., indicating a location ona map), or via some other coordinate system. In addition, locations arenot limited to “point” locations, and can equivalently be areas, such asneighborhoods, cities, regions (e.g., western Washington state), states,countries, etc. Also, some embodiments may determine locationassessments for multiple locations specified in bulk or batch form. Forexample, the quality of a transit network may be calculated within acertain geography such as a city or neighborhood. Other permutations andcombinations are contemplated.

In response to the user specifying a location, the LAPS provides theillustrated location assessment. The Transit Score 105 is a measure, ona scale of 0 to 100, of the availability of a transit network of an areasurrounding the provided street address; hence it is referred to as a“Transit Score.” A transit scale (not illustrated) may be provided thatpresents the Transit Score as a position on a scale, with higher TransitScores being presented further rightwards on the scale. In someembodiments, the transit scale may also make use of colors, such as byusing a spectrum of colors from red (e.g., reflecting low transitscores) to green (e.g., reflecting high transit scores). In otherembodiments, shades of gray or other techniques may be utilized toprovide a user with an intuitive understanding of the determined transitscore. Other embodiments may use other rating systems such as stars orother indications of quality.

Along with Transit Score 105, the display may provide a visualrepresentation 110 that characterizes the Transit Score. For example, aTransit Score in the range of 90 to 100 may be characterized as a“Rider's Paradise,” meaning that the specified location offersworld-class public transportation; a score in the range of 70 to 89 maybe characterized as “Excellent Transit,” meaning that the specifiedlocation offers transit that is convenient for most trips; a score inthe range of 50 to 69 may be characterized as “Good Transit,” meaningthat the specified location offers many nearby public transportationoptions; a score in the range of 25 to 49 may be characterized as “SomeTransit,” meaning that the specified location offers only a few nearbytransportation options; and a score in the range of 0 to 24 may becharacterized as “Minimal Transit,” meaning that it may be difficult tofind a transit network route near the specified location.

As depicted in FIG. 1, the visual representation of the locationassessment may also include information 115 pertaining to specifictransit network route information. For example, the visualrepresentation may include icons (for example, icon 120) that representan applicable transportation mode, the distance from the specifiedlocation to the nearest point of access to the transit network (e.g., astation, stop, parking lot where carpools may be joined, or othertransfer point) that services the route, or the route number. Asillustrated in the example of FIG. 1, the specific route information 115may correspond to a bus icon that is situated next to a descriptionreading “0.05 mi-30.” In this example, the bus icon corresponds to a bustransportation mode (as opposed to, for example, a train icon that mightindicate a light rail transportation mode). The “0.05 mi-30” notationindicates a corresponding Bus Route #30 that is situated 0.05 miles fromthe specified location. Additionally, if the user selects routeinformation 115 (for example, by using a mouse or other computerpointing device to click on the route information in a Web browser), thevisual representation 100 may be updated for one or more icons 120 thatrepresent the physical map location of the corresponding transit networkstation or other point of access to the transit network. The updatedvisual representation may also include additional related information125, such as the nearest cross streets to the transit network station(e.g., “N 40TH ST & ASHWORTH AVE N”), additional routes serviced by thesame transit network station, stop or transfer point (e.g., Bus Routes#30, #31, and #46), a hyperlink to the transit authority responsible forthe transit network route, hyperlinks that enable a rider to leave acomment or make a report, and hyperlinks that interface with socialmedia Web sites such as Facebook or Twitter.

In some embodiments, the Transit Score is calculated by summing theusefulness of each transit network route that is accessible from aspecified location. The usefulness of a route is determined based on atleast three factors, including the distance from the specified locationto the nearest station servicing the route, the route service level, andthe transportation mode. A distance decay function is used to determinea penalty corresponding to the distance from the specified location to astation servicing the route. By using the multiplicative inverse of thedistance, the distance is weighted such that it decays as a function ofthe distance from the location. For example, a route having a stationthat is located farther away from a specified location will be subjectto a more severe distance penalty than a route having a station that islocated nearer to the specified location. Further details on thedistance decay function may be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,738,422 and8,892,455, both entitled SYSTEMS, TECHNIQUES, AND METHODS FOR PROVIDINGLOCATION ASSESSMENTS, and issued May 27, 2014 and Nov. 18, 2014respectively, the entireties of which are both hereby incorporated byreference in their entirety.

In addition to a distance penalty, the usefulness of a route also maytake into account a route service level that corresponds to thefrequency at which scheduled stops occur on the transit route. Forexample, a bus route that stops near a specified location every fifteenminutes would have a more favorable route service level than a differentbus route that stops near the specified location only once each hour. Aperson of ordinary skill will appreciate that frequency may be measuredin a variety of ways, including the number of stops per hour or day, orthe number of stops within any designated time period such as a rushhour period when the transit network route typically operates at higherridership levels.

The usefulness of a route further takes into account the transportationmode, such as, for example, heavy or light rail, ferry, cable car, orother modes of transportation. For example, heavy or light rail may beweighted 2×, while ferry or cable cars may be weighted 1.5× and busesmay be weighted 1×. The weights may be provided by the LAPS provider andmay be non-configurable by the user. Alternatively, the weights may beprovided or configured by the user to reflect individual userpreferences. For example, a user who prefers riding a bus more thanriding a train may weight buses 3.5× and trains 1×.

The Transit Score algorithm calculates a score for a specific locationby summing the relative usefulness of all transit network routes thatare accessible from the specified location. Before arriving at thereported Transit Score, a raw transit score may first be calculatedaccording to the following formula:raw_transitscore(location)=sum for allroutes(route_service_level*mode_weight*distance_func(distance_to_nearest_stop_for_route))

As reflected in the above raw_transitscore formula, a sum for eachtransit network route is calculated by multiplying the route servicelevel by the mode weight and the distance penalty, as determined by adistance decay function. The sum for each transit network route iscombined to calculate a raw Transit Score. Since any measure of transitinfrastructure (number of stops, number of weekly trips, etc.) will haveits own unique range, it may be necessary to normalize the raw TransitScore to generate a Transit Score from 0 to 100 that enables comparisonsbetween different locations and/or areas. Accordingly, the raw TransitScore may be normalized according to the following formula:transit_score(location)=log(raw_transitscore(location))/perfect_score

The amount of transit infrastructure among multiple areas can vary byseveral orders of magnitude. Scales for measuring quantities that havean extremely large range of normal values (e.g., sound volume,earthquake intensity, etc.) are typically logarithmic. For example, asmall town may have three scheduled bus stops per day, whereas a majormetropolitan area such as downtown Manhattan may have tens of thousandsof scheduled bus stops per day. If Manhattan had a Transit Score of 100,then on a linear scale the downtown area of a small town might have aTransit Score of 0.01, whereas a logarithmic score might rate Manhattanas 100 and the small town as 10. Here, the logarithmic score bettermatches a rider's experience because the added utility of one additionalbus route in a small town may exceed the utility of ten additional busroutes in downtown Manhattan.

In order to normalize the raw Transit Score to a 0 to 100 scale, a“perfect score” location is selected and used as a reference. Forexample, the Transit Score of the center of one or more cities withsubstantially full transit data available (e.g., San Francisco, Chicago,Boston, Portland, and Washington, D.C.) may be averaged to create acanonical 100 Transit Score. For example, the LAPS or the user mayselect San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, Portland, or Washington, D.C.—orany combination of those cities—as the perfect score location. TheTransit Score from the selected city (or the combined or average TransitScore for multiple selected cities) may then be used as the “perfectscore” used to calculate a normalized Transit Score from the raw TransitScore. It will be appreciated that other embodiments may use differentscaling mechanisms (e.g., linear, exponential, logarithmic) or otherforms of normalizing scores.

Other embodiments of this system may include calculating the quality ofa transit network based on a “transit shed,” which is the area reachablein a given time on a transit network for a location. For example, thenumber of points of interest reachable within a transit shed could beused to calculate a measure of the quality of transit networks. Userfeedback such as the quality of nearby transit network stops, routes, orother aspects of the public transportation system could also be used tocalculate the quality of nearby transit network.

In addition to computing a transit score for a specified location suchas a street address or cross streets, other areas for locationassessments are contemplated, such as an aggregate (sum, average, etc.)location assessment of a larger location (i.e., a location that islarger than a point location), for example, a zip code area, aneighborhood, a city, a state, a country/region, etc. In someembodiments, Transit Scores are averaged or population weighted tocalculate a score for an area. For example, a Transit Score for a largerarea may be calculated by imposing a grid over the desired area andperforming a calculation according to the following algorithm:

-   -   For each point in the grid:        -   Expand each point by 0.00075 decimal places to create a grid            cell        -   Intersect the grid cell with the census blocks it intersects        -   For each census block:            -   Calculate percentage of the census block the grid cell                intersects            -   Multiple that percentage by the total population of that                census block            -   Sum these partial populations to get the grid cell                population        -   Add the grid cell population to a variable called            total_population        -   Calculate the Transit Score at the center of the grid cell            and multiply it by the grid cell population to get the            weighted Transit Score        -   Add the weighted Transit Score of this grid cell to a            variable called weighted_transit_score    -   Divide weighted_transit_score by total_population for the points        within the boundary of the neighborhood or city to arrive at the        Transit Score for the selected area.

In some embodiments, a transit shed is calculated so that the areareachable on a transit network in a given amount of time is used in thecalculation of a Transit Score. A score generated in this way might bebased on factors such as the number of people who are able to reach aspecific location via transit networks in a given amount of time, thenumber of employment opportunities available within the area, or thenumber of available housing units available within the area. Forexample, a city government might create a scoring system based on thenumber of jobs reachable in 20 minutes on transit networks from a givenlocation. A transportation planner might create a scoring system basedon the number of people who live within a particular transit shed. Thesescores could be aggregated at various geographies such as the address,neighborhood, county, or city level. Additional details regardingtransit sheds may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 9,195,953, entitled SYSTEMAND METHOD FOR THE CALCULATION AND USE OF COMMUTE TIMES IN SEARCH ANDOTHER APPLICATIONS and issued Nov. 24, 2015, the entirety of which ishereby incorporated by reference.

FIG. 4 is an example overview flow diagram of a process for providing anexample location assessment for a transit shed. The illustrated routingmay be performed by the LAPS 210, described with reference to FIG. 2.More specifically, at step 405 the LAPS receives an indication ofparameters related to an area for which a transit shed is to becalculated. At step 410, the transit shed is calculated as described inthe aforementioned co-pending application. At step 415, one or morepoints of interest within the transit shed are identified and, at step420, the Transit Score is calculated for each identified point ofinterest, as described herein. At step 425, the LAPS displays a TransitScore reflecting the sum or the average of the Transit Scores that werecalculated for each identified point of interest within the transitshed.

One potential use of a measure of the quality of a transit network is tomeasure the impact of potential changes to a transit network system. Forexample, a transit agency could analyze the impact of adding, removing,or changing routes or stops by measuring the change in Transit Score.One embodiment of this would be for the transit agency to provide a feedof their transit network system that includes the hypothetical newroutes. This feed could be processed in the same way as the actualtransit feed and differences in Transit Score could be compared. Atransit network agency could then analyze the number of citizensimpacted by this change and analyze changes in Transit Score.

In order to provide the most up-to-date transit network information, theLAPS may repeat the process of calculating the Transit Score to reflectchanges due to route schedule changes, maintenance delays, trafficaccidents, high ridership volume, or the like. After calculating theinitial Transit Score for a specified location, the LAPS may recalculatethe Transit Score automatically at predetermined intervals and updateTransit Score 105 on the display of FIG. 1. In addition to automaticupdates, the LAPS may update the Transit Score in response to systemchanges reported by an applicable transit authority, in response tosystem changes that are detected by the LAPS, or in response to systemchanges reported by one or more users or third-party sources. Inaddition, the Transit Score may be recalculated in response to a userrequest to update the Transit Score. A person of ordinary skill in theart will appreciate that a user may request an update to the TransitScore in a variety of ways, including for example clicking on an icon(not shown) in the example display of FIG. 1.

FIG. 2 is an example block diagram of modules or components of anexample embodiment of a Location Assessment Provider System. In someembodiments, the LAPS comprises one or more functionalcomponents/modules that work together to generate and provideassessments for specified locations, such as the Transit Score describedwith reference to FIG. 1. These modules may be implemented in software,firmware, and/or hardware, alone or in various combinations. FIG. 2shows a LAPS 210 comprising a data management engine 211, an assessmentengine 212, a presentation engine 213, a user interaction engine 214, aLAPS API (“Application Program Interface”) 215, and a LAPS datarepository 216. The LAPS 210 may be communicatively coupled, via acommunication system 250, to one or more data sources 255, a clientsystem 260, and a third-party information provider system 265.

The data management engine 211 manages transit network information foruse by other modules of the LAPS 210. Managing transit network systeminformation may include obtaining such information from the one or moredata sources 255, and storing such obtained information in the LAPS datarepository 216 for access by other modules of the LAPS 210. Managingtransit network system information may also include determining thequality of (e.g., detecting errors in) obtained information, rectifying(e.g., correcting, adjusting, etc.) erroneous information, obtainingupdated information (e.g., information related to system delays androute changes), and/or otherwise manipulating (e.g., formatting,translating, etc.) obtained information, such that information obtainedfrom distinct data sources may be used or processed in a uniform andconsistent manner. In some embodiments, erroneous information may beidentified and/or corrected in various ways, such as based onuser-provided feedback. In addition to correcting erroneous information,user-provided feedback also may be used to add new transit networkinformation to the LAPS data repository. For example, a user may adddata reflecting a bus route #37 that stops at a particular intersectionat 8:15 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays, regardless ofwhether any information regarding bus route #37 previously existed inthe LAPS data repository. In a similar fashion, a user may providefeedback to add route data for entirely new transit systems, such asprivately owned transit systems or carpools, that did not previouslyexist in the LAPS data repository. While, in the examples illustrated,the data management engine 211 pre-fetches transit network systeminformation for storage in the LAPS data repository 216, in otherembodiments the data management engine 211 may also or alternativelyprovide a uniform interface with which other modules of the LAPS 210 mayobtain on-demand information from at least some of the one or more datasources 255.

The user interaction engine 214 facilitates user access to, andcustomization of, various features of the LAPS 210. In particular, auser utilizing the client system 260 may interact with the LAPS 210 viathe user interaction engine to provide street addresses or otherindications of locations in order to obtain location assessments forthose locations. For example, a request for an assessment of a specifiedlocation may be generated by the client system 260 (e.g., by a Webbrowser executing on the client system) and communicated to the userinteraction engine 214. The user interaction engine 214 then forwardsthe received request to the assessment engine 212. In response, theassessment engine 212 generates an assessment of the specified locationand provides it to the client system 260, either directly, via the userinteraction engine 214, or some other module. The user interactionengine 214 may also provide user management functionality, such as theestablishment and management of user accounts that may be used to storeuser customizations, preferences (e.g., display preferences, indicationsof frequently assessed locations, etc.), and/or other user-relatedinformation (e.g., payment information when access to the LAPS 210 isprovided in exchange for payment). Such user-related information may bestored by the user interaction engine 214 in the LAPS data repository216 for access by other modules.

The assessment engine 212 generates location assessments in response toprovided indications of locations. As noted above, the assessment engine212 may receive indications of locations from the user interactionengine 214. It may also receive indications from other sources, such asdirectly from client systems 260, the LAPS API 215, and/or third-partyinformation providers 265. The assessment engine 212 may utilizeservices provided by other illustrated modules, such as the presentationengine 213, the data management engine 211, etc. For example, theassessment engine 212 may generate assessments based on informationstored in the LAPS data repository 216 (e.g., information about publictransportation system features associated with the indicated location)and/or information received from the one or more data sources 255 (e.g.,searching for and obtaining information about public transportationsystem features from a search engine or other network-accessibleinformation provider).

The presentation engine 213 generates representations of locationassessments provided by the assessment engine 212. Such representationsmay include visual representations, such as graphical maps of aspecified area that are possibly augmented in various ways (e.g., withone or more icons indicating stops along routes in the transit networksystem, color coding, etc.), scores (e.g., a number), graphical scales,textual descriptions (e.g., a text describing a particular assessment,etc.), etc. The generated representations may also be in non-visualforms, such as audio messages for the visually impaired describing anassessment that may be automatically generated via text-to-speechtranslation or other mechanisms. The presentation engine 213 may alsogenerate representations of location assessments based on userpreferences stored in the LAPS data repository 216, so as to providecustomized views that are specialized for particular client systems(e.g., PDAs, cell phones, etc.) and/or user preferences.

The LAPS API 215 provides programmatic access to various features and/orfunctions of the LAPS 210. For example, the LAPS API 215 may provide aprogrammatic interface by which remote computing systems mayprogrammatically interact with the LAPS 210, such as by allowing thethird-party information provider system 265 to access one or moreservices provided by the assessment engine 212 in order to providelocation assessments in the context of some other application. In someembodiments, the third-party information provider system 265 may includea Web site and/or other software application that provides publictransportation services to client systems 260. The third-partyinformation provider system 265 may incorporate (e.g., embed)assessments of locations (e.g., a particular address or streetintersection and their surrounding areas) along with other informationabout those locations. In addition, the API 215 may also provideprogrammatic interface to a client application utilized by a user tointeract with the LAPS 210 in various ways. For example, thefunctionality exposed via the API 215 may support the development ofcustom applications operating on portable client devices (e.g., smartphones, PDAs, pagers, etc.), custom hardware (e.g., kiosk-basedsystems), etc. Furthermore, the API 215 may support the “bulk”acquisition of assessments for large numbers of distinct locations,possibly in exchange for payment.

The client system 260 may include various types of computing systems.For example, in some embodiments the client system 260 may be a desktopcomputing system executing a Web browser that may be used by a user tointeractively obtain information from the LAPS 210. In anotherembodiment, the client system 260 may be a mobile computing device(e.g., a mobile phone, PDA, etc.) having location aware functionality(e.g., a GPS system). In such a case, the client system 260 may, eitherautomatically (e.g., on a periodic basis, at a specific time, upon theoccurrence of a particular event, etc.) or in response to a user request(e.g., a button press), provide an indication of a current location ofthe client system 260 to the LAPS 210 in order to obtain an assessmentfor the current location and to display such to the user. For example, aGPS-capable mobile phone may periodically (e.g., every minute) providean indication of the current location of the mobile phone to the LAPS210 in order to obtain and display a continuously updated, currentlocation assessment to a user who is traveling about a city or otherarea. As noted above, location assessments need not necessarily bevisually presented. For example, a mobile phone client device may beepor vibrate when a particular location assessment crosses somepredetermined or selected threshold. For example, in the context oftransit network assessments, a mobile phone may vibrate when a transitnetwork assessment of the current location of the mobile phone dropsbelow a particular threshold, in order to notify a user that they areentering a neighborhood where a transit network may not be readilyavailable.

FIG. 3 is an example overview flow diagram of a process for providing anexample location assessment using an example embodiment of a LocationAssessment Provider System. The illustrated routing may be performed bythe LAPS 210, described with reference to FIG. 2, to generate, forexample, the Transit Score assessment described with reference toFIG. 1. The illustrated process demonstrates the generation andprovision of location assessments in response to received indications oflocations (e.g., street addresses), such as may be received from Webbrowsers executing on the client system 260.

More specifically, at step 305 the LAPS receives an indication of alocation such as a street address. At step 310, the LAPS determines thetransit network routes that are accessible from the specified location.For each transit network route determined in step 310, the LAPS repeatssteps 315, 320, 325, and 330 to determine the raw Transit Score for eachdetermined transit network route. At step 315, the LAPS retrieves datarelevant to the determined transit network route. For example, the LAPSmay retrieve data including the location of the nearest station alongthe route, the frequency of the route, and the type of route. At step320, the LAPS uses the retrieved information to calculate a distancepenalty for the determined route. At step 325, the LAPS calculates theraw Transit Score for the determined route, and, at step 330, the LAPSadds the calculated raw Transit Score for the determined route to thetotal raw Transit Score for all of the determined routes. At step 335,the LAPS determines whether it must continue calculating raw TransitScores for any remaining transit network routes that were determined atstep 310 to be accessible from the specified location. If the rawTransit Score for additional determined transit network routes needs tobe calculated, the LAPS repeats steps 315, 320, 325, and 330 for thenext determined transit network route for which a calculation has notyet been made. Otherwise, the LAPS proceeds to step 340, where the LAPSnormalizes the total raw Transit Score to determine the normalizedTransit Score. The normalized Transit Score is then displayed at step345.

From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that specific embodiments ofthe invention have been described herein for purposes of illustration,but that various modifications may be made without deviating from thespirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is notlimited except as by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method implementing by acomputing system configured with computer-executable instructions, thecomputer-implemented method comprising: obtaining transit informationfor a geographical area, wherein the transit information identifies aplurality of transit access points within the geographical area;conducting a location assessment for a first location within thegeographical area, wherein conducting the location assessment comprises:inspecting the transit information to identify one or more transitaccess points within a threshold distance of the first location; foreach transit access point of the one or more transit access points,assigning a weighted value to the transit access point based at least inpart on: a distance between the first location and the transit accesspoint, and a frequency of service on a transit route servicing thetransit access point; and combining the weighted values for the one ormore transmit access points into a location score for the firstlocation; receiving from a computing device, over a communicationnetwork, a request for information regarding the geographical area;transmitting to the computing device, over the communication network,instructions configured to enable selection from a user interface, of alocation of interest from a plurality of locations within thegeographical area; receiving an indication from the interface that thefirst location is the location of interest; and transmitting thelocation score of the first location to the computing device.
 2. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising obtainingupdated transit information for the geographical area and updating thelocation score for the first location by repeating the locationassessment for the first location.
 3. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 2, wherein the location assessment is repeated at predeterminedtime intervals.
 4. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, whereinthe location assessment is repeated in response to a user request. 5.The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the location scoreof the first location is normalized based on a perfect scorecorresponding to a second location that is different from the firstlocation.
 6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein thefirst location is identified by at least one of a zip code area, aneighborhood, a city, a state, a country, or a geographical region. 7.The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the weighted valueassigned to each transit access point is further based at least in parton a mode of transportation on the transit route servicing the transitaccess point.
 8. A computing system comprising: a memory storing transitinformation for a geographical area, wherein the transit informationidentifies a plurality of transit access points within the geographicalarea; and a processor configured with computer executable instructionsto: conduct a location assessment for a location within the geographicalarea, wherein conducting the location assessment comprises: inspectingthe transit information for the geographical area to determine one ormore transit access points within a threshold distance of the location;for each transit access point of the one or more transit access points,assigning a weighted value to the transit access point based at least inpart on: a distance between the location and the transit access point,and a frequency of service on a transit route servicing the transitaccess point; and combining the weighted values into a location scorefor the location; receive from a computing device, over a communicationnetwork, a request for information regarding the geographical area, therequest indicating the location; and transmit the location score of thelocation to the computing device.
 9. The computing system of claim 8,wherein the processor is further configured with computer executableinstructions to transmit to the computing device, over the communicationnetwork, interface instructions configured to output an interfaceenabling selection of a location of interest from a plurality oflocations within the geographical area, and wherein the request isreceived based on input to the interface.
 10. The computing system ofclaim 8, wherein the processor is further configured with computerexecutable instructions to update the location score for the location byrepeating the location assessment for the location.
 11. The computingsystem of claim 8, wherein the location assessment is repeated at atleast one of predetermined time intervals or in response to a userrequest to repeat the location assessment.
 12. The computing system ofclaim 8, wherein the location is a first location, and wherein thelocation score of the first location is normalized based on a perfectscore corresponding to a second location that is different from thefirst location.
 13. The computing system of claim 8, wherein theweighted value assigned to each transit access point is further based atleast in part on a mode of transportation on the transit route servicingthe transit access point.
 14. The computing system of claim 13, whereinthe mode of transportation on the transit route servicing the transitaccess point is one of a plurality of modes of transportation, andwherein each mode of transportation of the plurality of modes oftransportation is assigned a weight for use in assigning weighted valuesto transit access points.
 15. Non-transitory computer-readable mediaincluding computer-executable instructions that, when executed by acomputing system, cause the computing system to: obtain transitinformation identifying a plurality of transit access points within ageographical area; conduct a location assessment for a location withinthe geographical area, wherein conducting the location assessmentcomprises: inspect the transit information for the geographical area todetermine one or more transit access points within a threshold distanceof the location; for each transit access point of the one or moretransit access points, assign a weighted value to the transit accesspoint based at least in part on: a distance between the location and thetransit access point, and a frequency of service on a transit routeservicing the transit access point; and combine the weighted values intoa location score for the location; receive from a computing device, overa communication network, a request for information regarding thegeographical area, the request indicating the location; and transmit thelocation score of the indicated location to the computing device. 16.The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 15, wherein thecomputer-executable further cause the computing system to obtain updatethe location score for the location by repeating the location assessmentfor the location.
 17. The non-transitory computer-readable media ofclaim 15, wherein the location assessment is repeated at at least one ofpredetermined time intervals or in response to a user request to repeatthe location assessment.
 18. The non-transitory computer-readable mediaof claim 15, wherein the location is a first location, and wherein thelocation score of the first location is normalized based on a perfectscore corresponding to a second location that is different from thefirst location.
 19. The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim15, wherein the weighted value assigned to each transit access point isfurther based at least in part on a mode of transportation on thetransit route servicing the transit access point.
 20. The non-transitorycomputer-readable media of claim 15, wherein the mode of transportationon the transit route servicing the transit access point is one of aplurality of modes of transportation, and wherein each mode oftransportation of the plurality of modes of transportation is assigned aweight for use in assigning weighted values to transit access points.